148 



CLEVELAND, GROVER. 



of Buffalo. In a letter written to his brother 

 on the day of his election, he announced the 

 policy he intended to adopt and afterward 

 carried out, " that is, to make the matter a 

 business engagement between the people of the 

 State and myself, in which the obligation on my 

 side is to perform the duties assigned me with 

 an eye single to the interest of my employers." 

 The National Democratic Convention met at 

 Chicago, July 8, 1884. Three days were de- 

 voted to organization, platform, and speeches 

 in favor of candidates. In the evening of July 

 10 a vote was taken, in which, out of 820 votes, 

 Grover Cleveland received 392. A two-third 

 vote (557) was necessary to a nomination. On 

 the following morning, in the first ballot, 

 Cleveland received 683 votes, and, on motion 

 of Thomas A. Hendricks (subsequently nomi- 

 nated for the vice-presidency), the vote was 

 made unanimous. He was officially notified of 

 his nomination by the Convention Committee 

 at Albany, July 29, and made a modest re- 

 sponse, promising soon to signify in a more 

 formal manner his acceptance of the nomina- 

 tion. Nearly three weeks later, while the 

 Governor was taking a brief vacation at Upper 

 Saranac Lake, he wrote and made public the 

 following letter : 



ALBANY, N. Y., Aug. 18, 1884. 



GENTLEMEN : I have received your communication, 

 dated July 28, 1884, informing me of my nomination 

 to the office of President of the United States by the 

 National Democratic Convention lately assembled at 

 Chicago. 



I accept the nomination with a grateful appreciation 

 of the supreme honor conferred, and a solemn sense 

 of the responsibility which, in its acceptance, I as- 

 sume. 



I have carefully considered the platform adopted by 

 the convention, and cordially approve the same. So 

 plain a statement of Democratic taith, and the princi- 



is essentially executive in its nature. The laws en- 

 acted by the legislative branch of the Government the 

 Chief Executive is bound faithfully to enforce. And 

 when the wisdom of the political party which selects 

 one of its members as a nominee for that office has 

 outlined its policy and declared its principles, it seems 

 to me that nothing in the character of the office or the 

 necessities of the ease requires more from the candi- 

 date accepting such nomination than the suggestion 

 of certain well-known truths, so absolutely vital to 

 the safety and welfare of the nation that they can not 

 be too often recalled, or too seriously enforced. 



We proudly call ours a government by the people. 

 It is not such when a class is tolerated which arro- 

 gates to itself the management of public affairs, seek- 

 ing to control the people instead of representing them. 



Parties are the necessary outgrowth of our institu- 

 tions, but a government is not by the people when 

 one party fastens its control upon the country, and 

 perpetuates its power by cajoling and betraying the 

 people instead of serving them. 



A government is not by the people when a result 

 which should represent the intelligent will of free and 

 tb inking men, is or can be determined by the shame- 

 less corruption of their suffrages. 



When an election to office shall be the selection by 

 the voters of one of their number to assume for a time 

 a public tr'.:st, instead of his dedication to the profes- 

 sion of politics ; when the holders of the ballot, quick- 

 ened by a sense of duty, shall avenge truth betrayed 



and pledges broken, and when the" suffrage shall be 

 altogether free and uncorrupted, the full realization 

 of a government by the people will be at hand. And 

 of the means to this end, not one would, in my judg- 

 ment, be more effective than an amendment to the 

 Constitution disqualifying the President from re-elec- 

 tion. When we consider the patronage of this great 

 office, the allurements of power, the temptation to re- 

 tain public place once gained, and, more than all, the 

 availability a party finds in an incumbent whom a 

 horde of office-holders with a zeal born of benefits re- 



President 

 de- 

 liberate, and intelligent political" action which must 

 characterize a government by the people. 



A true American sentiment recognizes the dignity 

 of labor, and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. 

 Contented labor is an element of national prosperity. 

 Ability to work constitutes the capital and the wage 

 of labor, the income of a vast number of our popula- 

 tion, and this interest should be jealously protected. 

 Our working-men are not asking unreasonable indul- 

 gence, but as intelligent and manly citizens they seek 

 the same consideration which those demand who have 

 other interests at stake/ They should receive their 

 full share of the care and attention of those who make 

 and execute the laws, to the end that the wants and 

 needs of the employers and the employed shall alike 

 be subserved, and the prosperity of the country, the 

 common heritage of both, be advanced. As related to 

 this subject, while we should not discourage the im- 

 migration of those who come to acknowledge allegi- 

 ance to our Government, and add to our citizen popu- 

 lation, yet, as a means of protection to our working- 

 men, a different rule should prevail concerning those 

 who, if they come or are brought to our land, do not 

 intend to become Americans, but will injuriously com- 

 pete with those justly entitled to our field of labor. 



In a letter accepting the nomination to the office of 

 Governor, nearly two years ago, I made the following 

 statement, to which I have steadily adhered : 



" The laboring-classes constitute the main part of 

 our population. They should be protected in their 

 efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endan- 

 gered by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this 

 subject should recognize the care of the State for hon- 

 est toil, and be framed with a view of improving the 

 condition of the working-man." 



A proper regard for the welfare of the working-man 

 being inseparably connected with the integrity of our 

 institutions ; none of our citizens are more interested 

 than they in guarding against any corrupting influ- 

 ences which seek to pervert the beneficent purposes 

 of our Government, and none should be more watch- 

 ful of the artful machinations of those who allure 

 them to self-inflicted injury. 



In a free country the curtailment of the absolute 

 rights of the individual should only be such as is es- 

 sential to the peace and good order of the community. 

 The limit between the proper subjects of governmental 

 control, and those which can be more fittingly left to 

 the moral sense and self-imposed restraint of the citi- 

 zen, should be carefully kept in view. Thus, laws 

 unnecessarily interfering with the habits and customs 

 of any of our people which are not offensive to the 

 moral sentiments of the civilized world, and which 

 are consistent Avith good citizenship and the public 

 welfare, are unwise and vexatious. 



The commerce of a nation to a great extent deter- 

 mines its supremacy. Cheap and easy transportation 

 should therefore be liberally fostered. Within the 

 limits of the Constitution, the General Government 

 should so improve and protect its natural water-ways 

 as will enable the producers of the country to reach a 

 profitable market. 



The people pay the wages of the public employe's, 

 and they are entitled to the fair and honest work 

 which tiie money thus paid should command. It is 



